Clause 2 - Duties in relation to diversity and choice
Education and Inspections Bill
6:30 pm
Nadine Dorries (Mid Bedfordshire, Conservative)
That is actually my daughter’s name, so well guessed.
It will come as no surprise to the Minister that I support amendment No. 161, as I am particularly interested in special educational needs. When I was a new MP, the parents of a boy called Jack were the very first people to visit my surgery, and their case ended up in the Minister’s office. Jack has severe learning difficulties and special educational needs. I do not know whether the Minister knows the conclusion of the story: Jack is receiving a full education in Moor House school. I thank the Minister because, but for her intervention, Jack would have had a battle to be educated anywhere. At the time of his parents’ visit, he was being educated at home. Jack’s case highlights the need for local education authorities to have adequate provision for special educational needs. At the moment, one of the problems is that the Government appear to have a policy of inclusion and local education authorities are attempting to interpret it, but there is a grey, fuzzy area in between.
That has resulted in a disparity of provision—a postcode lottery—across the UK. Will the Minister confirm that the Government have an inclusion policy? When I asked Lord Adonis that question last week, he said that Parliament, not the Government, has an inclusion policy. I beg to differ. I should like to know whether the Government have an inclusion policy because, first, it is difficult to get a Minister to say whether they do, and secondly, local education authorities believe that the Government have one, interpret their policy and statement children.